My
problems about the Cudia controversy. The PMA Honor Committee which
tried Aldrin Jeff Cudia, despite all the plaudits, protection, greatness
attributed to it by PMA alumni and other parties gave me pause to ask
several questions:
1. From where did the Honor Committee derive its authority to SUMMARILY try a Cadet?;
2. By item No. 1, is the Honor Committee a formal extension of the AFP's Military Tribunal?;
3. If the Honor Committee is a formal extension of the AFP's Military Tribunal, shouldn't the said body also need to have transparent and democratic judicial processes? Thus wasn't the Cudia trial, and all those that went before it without any legal nor judicial basis?;
4. Based on item 3, can't we thus say that the PMA Honor Committee, despite its being part of tradition is an EXTRA-JUDICIAL body, being such, thus all its proceedings being EXTRA-JUDICIAL also ILLEGAL, outside the law?;
5. As PMA cadets are publicly-funded, thus shouldn't the Cudia controversy be a matter of public interest, contrary to what some quarters claim that the Cudia controversy is an internal PMA problem?.
I've a strong inkling that though the Honor Code must still be a paramount component of the PMA, however I also am very doubtful that a body like the Honor Committee should at all be its implementor given its customary ABSOLUTE, SECRETIVE proceedings. Ours is a society which claims that transparency, fairness, and rights are among its basic hallmarks. Thus one can't help but chagrin that supposed guardians of our democratic society, our PMAers, are still ruled by an obviously medieval artifact. Though traditions may die hard, or may have served their purpose, I think it's about time that our republic should take a long, hard look into this Honor Committee of the PMA, as to whether it can really weather a democratic society's fundamental standards of transparency, rule of law, fairness, respect for rights, and constitutional probity.
1. From where did the Honor Committee derive its authority to SUMMARILY try a Cadet?;
2. By item No. 1, is the Honor Committee a formal extension of the AFP's Military Tribunal?;
3. If the Honor Committee is a formal extension of the AFP's Military Tribunal, shouldn't the said body also need to have transparent and democratic judicial processes? Thus wasn't the Cudia trial, and all those that went before it without any legal nor judicial basis?;
4. Based on item 3, can't we thus say that the PMA Honor Committee, despite its being part of tradition is an EXTRA-JUDICIAL body, being such, thus all its proceedings being EXTRA-JUDICIAL also ILLEGAL, outside the law?;
5. As PMA cadets are publicly-funded, thus shouldn't the Cudia controversy be a matter of public interest, contrary to what some quarters claim that the Cudia controversy is an internal PMA problem?.
I've a strong inkling that though the Honor Code must still be a paramount component of the PMA, however I also am very doubtful that a body like the Honor Committee should at all be its implementor given its customary ABSOLUTE, SECRETIVE proceedings. Ours is a society which claims that transparency, fairness, and rights are among its basic hallmarks. Thus one can't help but chagrin that supposed guardians of our democratic society, our PMAers, are still ruled by an obviously medieval artifact. Though traditions may die hard, or may have served their purpose, I think it's about time that our republic should take a long, hard look into this Honor Committee of the PMA, as to whether it can really weather a democratic society's fundamental standards of transparency, rule of law, fairness, respect for rights, and constitutional probity.
